The world watched in disbelief as Trump pulled off the seemingly impossible and became the 45th President of the United States by the will of the people. The result has sent shock waves through political establishments around the globe for the second time this year, barely four months after Brexit upset the balance of power in Britain and Europe. The post-war consensus is breaking down. We live in interesting times.

The rise of Trump, why he is so popular, and why he could win the presidency have already been the subject of previous blogs. In a nutshell it amounts to a rejection by the people of the political elites that control their lives. It used to be that the ‘have and have-nots’ in society were determined by class. Now they are determined by whether or not you are ‘protected’ by the state. Post war social democracy got rid of one type of elite only to replace it with another. In the process, the political system has left behind the ordinary man in the street, the ‘honest Joe’ who has to pay the bills for those whom the state protects.

A vote for Trump was a vote for rejecting the elitist system that has grown up in America, particularly over the last quarter of a century where America has been controlled by two families, the Clintons and the Bushes. The thought of another Clinton in the White House was more than they were prepared to tolerate, especially a woman. Trump represented a complete break with this cosy hegemony of political elites who had more in common than they had differences. As a result both sides hated him just as much with the Bush Republican elite actively campaigning against him.

Yet despite all predictions that Trump had wrecked the Republican Party for a generation, the Republicans have retained their hold over the Senate. Mind you, those were predictions made by the same pollsters and pundits that have failed so monumentally to predict the outcome of this election. First Brexit and now this - nobody will take the pollsters seriously in the future.

What is wrecked is mainstream media, the Democratic Party, which toyed with having an out and out left wing Socialist as its leader, something previously unthinkable in the USA, and the stranglehold of political elites.

The Trump triumph is a rejection by voters of mainstream media. This has been overwhelmingly pro Clinton. Even the Republican channels like Fox News and papers such as the Wall Street Journal have opposed a Trump presidency. Their influence is waning as voters look for other outlets that reflect their mores such as social media. New Zealand mainstream media also has egg all over its face after supporting the anti-Trump movement with exclusively adverse comment about the man and his campaign. They, too, have failed to understand the underlying anger and frustration they generate when they call those who disagree with their left wing world view ‘nasty little racists’.It was a rejection of Obama. This lacklustre President introduced Obamacare, the showpiece social engineering legislation designed to make the working poor pay for the poor malingerer. It was also a rejection of Obama’s ill fated foreign policy that has seen Americans involved in a war every single day of his presidency. Wars are expensive and impoverishing, yet Obama has failed to keep his military properly equipped. It remains to be seen if Trump can use his negotiating skills to resolve American engagement in overseas conflicts.Above all it was a thumbs down for Hilary Clinton. She was dogged by scandal throughout her campaign. No amount of trying to deflect attention would make the reality of the email scandal go away. It is also sad, but true, that the American attachment to religion places women in the role of homemaker. There is strong resistance to the idea of women as leaders of society. Clinton also relied too heavily on her appearances being stage managed. She failed to ignite any passion among her supporters. Passion was all on the side of Trump supporters who formed themselves into a movement for change, similar to the Brexit Leave campaign.

Trump is victorious because he is an outsider. Only an outsider could understand the frustrations and anxieties of middle Americans who have borne the brunt of the policies of Obama, and before him Bush. He has played on those anxieties masterfully and middle America has rewarded him with the White House. Now he has to show his supporters he means business by rolling back the policies of eight years of Obama that has left them impoverished and derided.

In particular he has to stop the job wrecking political scam of climate change. It is this imbecilic left wing philosophy of man made global warming and the ‘evil’ of fossil fuels that has led to the closure of coal mines and coal fired power generation in Ohio with consequent job losses. Trump won the crucial swing state of Ohio because he tapped into the sense of injustice this policy has caused. Power prises are rising everywhere due to the rush towards wind and solar power generation. Both are notoriously expensive to implement and disruptive to power grids that rely on consistent energy production. This is leading to power poverty where people can no longer afford to use electricity. Trump is a known climate sceptic. Under Trump, the Paris Climate Accord is dead.

Unbridled immigration has also led to job losses among middle Americans. Trump has said he will stem illegal immigration, a policy that resonated well with those who have lost their jobs or seen their wages stagnate because of cheap labour provided by illegal immigrants.

Trump will be a good president because he represents the mood of the times. His election is a vindication of democracy, which gives the little people as much say as the political elites. That’s why they dislike it so much. The great strength of democracy is that once every few years the ordinary people can decide if they want to keep or reject those they have put in power. It has been interesting to see how the elites have been muttering recently that the ordinary man in the street does not understand the complexities of affairs of state; that it should be up to a few ‘good’ men of the establishment to decide the fate of countries or continents because ‘they know best’, the cry of the demagogue through the ages. That such conversations can be promoted by mainstream media goes a long way to explaining why the people have been growing increasingly suspicious of the establishment, of which mainstream media is itself a component.

It is this self-righteous pomposity of political and media elites that has been rejected by the electorate. President Trump is an unknown. This frightens the elite because he is not ‘one of them’. He is exactly what’s needed to break the mould at this pivotal time in world history.

I cracked open a bottle of 30 year old Glen Livet to celebrate. It tasted good.

While I find Trump personally distasteful I agree with this analysis of why he won. But he is not the best other option to cure our ills.
An example is where one of the deficiencies of the neoliberal economic order has been the destruction of the middle class and the concentration of wealth in the hands of the few. If a solution to this is ensuring the super rich pay their fair share of tax then how can a world leader who is super rich and boasts of his cleverness in paying zero tax implement this?
We can only judge the character of a man by what he says and does
To his credit he does appear to be able to learn and change. We can only hope.